Stéphanie Fillion is a New York-based reporter specializing in foreign affairs and human rights who has been writing for PassBlue regularly for a year, including co-producing UN-Scripted, a new podcast series on global affairs through a UN lens. She has a master's degree in journalism, politics and global affairs from Columbia University and a B.A. in political science from McGill University. Fillion was awarded a European Union in Canada Young Journalists fellowship in 2015 and was an editorial fellow for La Stampa in 2017. She speaks French, English and Italian.
When Vietnam started its term as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council in January 2020, it also had to take on the role of the monthly rotating president. Back then, it sold itself as a bridge builder among the Council’s major powers. Vietnam’s second presidency, which started on April 1, is squeezed …
Arora Akanksha, the United Nations millennial staffer who launched her own campaign to run for secretary-general last month, held meetings with three high-level Canadian officials this week in New York City, including Canada’s ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae. Akanksha is a Canadian citizen who was born in India. So far, her candidacy has no …
A new grass-roots campaign, called #Forward, is launching open, digital global primaries to find a “people-backed” candidate to run for United Nations secretary-general this year, for a five-year term starting in 2022. The campaign aims to make the selection process more transparent and democratic while also attracting more attention to the election itself. “When you …
When she arrived in Turtle Bay the morning of Feb. 25, a day after being sworn in as United States ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield didn’t hide the tight timeline she had inherited in her new post, which includes president of the Security Council in March: “I’m not only hitting the ground running, …
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to preside over a Security Council meeting virtually on climate and security risks on Feb. 23. The British introduced the topic to the Council in 2007, but with Washington’s 180-degree turn toward climate change action and certain new Security Council members that are climate-friendly, 2021 could be the …
Arora Akanksha, a 34-year-old staff member who works as an audit coordinator for the United Nations Development Program, has announced her candidacy for the job of UN secretary-general, so far the only person to challenge António Guterres, the incumbent. Guterres announced in January that he would run for another five-year term, which begins in January 2022. …
This year marks the last stretch of Secretary-General António Guterres’s term at the United Nations, but in January he finally announced his desire to seek a second five-year term, ending speculation as to whether he would run or not. If many diplomats and others think it’s going to be a smooth ride for Guterres as an …
February marks the beginning of a yearlong period that could make or break Britain’s post-Brexit foreign policy, also known as “Global Britain.” This month, Britain presides over the United Nations Security Council, then the Group of 7 meeting, in Cornwall in June, and in November, the UN Climate Change Conference, or COP26, in Glasgow. “I think …
It’s become the origin story of Tunisia’s revolution and the broader Arab Spring: In December 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire after years of being harassed by police officers and experiencing a series of humiliating encounters with local officials. His self-immolation became the focus of long-simmering anger toward the government, …
In the last hurrah of its two-year term, South Africa happens to be president of the Security Council in December, so it is making the most of its final month by holding a debate on the all-important United Nations-African Union relationship. South Africa is also chairing the African Union this year, until February 2021, and …
President-elect Joe Biden’s first message to fellow world leaders was clear: America is back. But there’s a glaring omission in his foreign policy plan: the United Nations. After four years of the Trump administration’s defunding and leaving UN organizations and agreements, the United States’ relationship with the UN is ripe for revival. But what, specifically, …
The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has so far remained silent on the United States Nov. 3 presidential election, despite concerns about possible violence in the country and President Trump having prematurely proclaimed victory. Indeed, the UN warned its personnel at New York headquarters to be prepared for “civil unrest” that may occur over the …
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines may be the smallest country to ever sit on the Security Council, but it doesn’t mean it is intimidated by the big powers. Instead, the island nation is already amplifying the voices of Africa and the Caribbean in the UN forum. “I think that what the small state does is …
As the United Nations turns 75 years old this month, it is worth noting that its membership has more than tripled — almost quadrupled — since its founding in 1945. From 50 signatories at the San Francisco conference that year to 193 member states and two with observer state status today, the UN has expanded …
Clair MacDougall was reporting on a follow-up story for PassBlue about Lieut. Col. Carlos Moisés Guillén Alfaro, the first official United Nations peacekeeper to die of Covid-19, when on Oct. 9 she heard that the World Food Program was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and that its executive director, David Beasley, was in town, so she switched …
PassBlue is an independent, women-led journalism site that closely covers the US-UN relationship, women’s issues, human rights, peacekeeping and other urgent global matters playing out in the world body. We report with a feminist perspective from our base in the UN press corps .
Our mission is to educate the public about what the UN does and doesn’t do and the role of the US, the most powerful member, at the world body. We aim to hold individuals and civic institutions accountable, including the UN and all its members.
